Code Lyoko: Malina
by Shake N. Bake Mormon
Summary: A new transfer student, a cop's daughter that loves to hunt, arrives at Kadic, and finds that the means to stopping the wolves that attacked the school isn't a rifle, but a supercomputer. As she fights side-by-side with the other Lyoko Warriors, her cautious nature, combined with her trickery and marksmanship, will be the tools she needs to succeed where the boy before her failed.


**EDIT: Chapter SUBSTANTIALLY lengthened. Like, 65% longer. Enjoy!**

**Hey, everyone! Yes, it's ****_yet another_**** story from ShakeNBakeMormon, whoop dee doo!... Yeah, ADD isn't fun. I decided to flex my writing muscle while everything else- that being "A Score After The Whisper" and "Code Xanadu"- kept hitting writers' block. Something decently easy, while letting me use both existing characters to test my ability to write what someone else has made, as well as my own original characters, or at least one of them. So, I decided to write what literally every author on this site has written at least one of: an OC Meets Canon story!**

**To clarify in advance, this Malina isn't the same as the one in Code Xanadu. Think of this one's personality as a sort of amalgamation between that Malina and Laoch: her talents, his romantic life, a sort of combination of their outfits, etc. **

**With all that being said, let's get right into it!**

* * *

_What the DEVIL kind of school is this?!_

Malina hadn't been too keen on transferring to some school near Paris- a massive, sprawling, unhygienic, crowded, dull gray city- and now, even less so. If _rabid wolves on campus _was normal, someone ought to have been fired for deciding to build a school here. The wolves wouldn't have normally been a problem for her, of course, but what made the situation undesirable was her complete lack of a hunting rifle. Give her some .308 rounds and something to shoot them with, she could have cleared the place in about a minute. Trap her, unarmed, in a room full of panicked children, and you'd made her more than a little grumpy.

Malina glared over at the crowd of kids in the middle of the room, trying to create distance between themselves and any point of entry. _So the only direction you can run once they get in is towards some more... _Malina chided the students in her mind, and the thought just about escaped as a grunt as she tried to _actually be useful _and hold the barricade- a table placed against the door- in place. She was one of only three- _no, four- _doing anything productive.

Or, at least, at her first glance.

Upon looking over the room again, she could see another five, not scared like the others, but also not doing anything to help, at least physically. They seemed to be planning something, though exactly what, she had no idea. Her eye caught that of the pink-haired one, and while the gaze had been quick, it was one Malina could read easily.

It was a look that said, _I know what I'm doing._

And right now, that made her Malina's favorite person in the room. Malina grabbed another table, stacking it against the existing barricade, and then placed several chairs against it. Those doing more than she probably had been, she made her way over to the little meeting.

"Any decent ideas?" Malina asked the group, squatting near them.

"Well, we've got one." The tall brunet replied. "Problem is, we don't have any willing volunteers."

"I assume it's 'bait,' then?"

"Pretty much. Yumi's the fastest runner-" the blonde in glasses pointed to the Japanese girl as he spoke. "But we need her-" A look from the girl told him to stop, but Malina pretended not to notice as the boy corrected himself. "Sorry, _she _needs to rest it. She... sprained her ankle, a while back. Doesn't need the cast anymore, but still isn't in top condition."

"You'd have to have a really good 'top condition' to outrun a wolf. Don't think she could have done it anyway." Malina noted.

"Okay, so we're back to square one then." The shorter blonde groaned.

"I think I've got an idea." Malina started. "Quick question: who's the best at climbing?"

"That would be me." The short blonde bragged, earning a stare from the Japanese girl.

"Alright. Think you can climb out the window and onto the roof of the building?"

"What would I do up there? Yell for help?"

"The roof's got some metal. Make some noise up there, try and get them to gather near one door. Shouldn't be able to reach you up there, and that'll hopefully free up an exit for at least a few of us." Malina turned to the others. "If we all try to leave at once, that'll be even more noise, a distraction from his distraction. We'll need to funnel people out, slowly and calmly. Hopefully, if enough people leave, at least one can get some help. Maybe get me a weapon."

"The wolves'll smell everyone leaving." The one with glasses pointed out.

"The kitchen should have things to mask our scent." Yumi replied.

"Simple but elegant. You up for it, Odd?" The pink-haired girl finally spoke. _Wait, 'Odd?' Who named their kid after an adjective?_

"You know it!" Odd shouted as he ran towards the window, climbing through the highest part and pulling himself around and over onto the roof.

"Alright. Ladies first for evacuation." The one with glasses whispered to the rest of the group. As Odd started making noise, Malina could hear the wolves circling around the building to be as close to the boy as possible. She slowly stood up, as she and the brunet moved away tables and chairs from one of the doors. Yumi motioned for everyone to stay quiet, and then quietly barked a short order to her peers as the boy with glasses grabbed oil from the kitchen and a spray bottle.

"Girls first, and everyone keep it down!"

Malina stepped out the door, her Chuck Taylors making little noise as she crept along the ground, her legs never crossing in case she needed to make a run for it. She made her way to the dormitory building, leading others to the same. With more exits and more space, it was definitely the superior location to hole up in. As the other students entered, however, she noticed the others from before heading in another direction, to the campus' park.

_What in the- _Malina had assumed them competent, but the direction they were headed made her question that fact. As some of the last students entered the dorm building, she snuck over to where they had gone. In their path, however, she found a sewer drain.

_Less people, and pretty hard for a wolf to open. _Malina commended the group mentally, retracting her previous thoughts on them. She quietly removed the cover, making sure to place it back as she descended. As she neared the bottom of the ladder, she noticed a skateboard to her right, near marks of others and a scooter, as far as she could tell. _Seems like they're here often enough. Must have a place. _The girl left the skateboard alone, unfamiliar with anything but a bicycle, and walked along the path, following the hints of a trail along the concrete.

Eventually, she reached another ladder, and climbed up it to find herself on a bridge near an old factory. _Nice place. The wolves probably give them a lot of chances to be here, unless that's just some bad luck on my part. _The girl entered the factory, and one thing she could immediately notice was the elevator cable moving. She made her way down to the bottom level, and tried to activate the elevator.

The button, however, didn't work. Either something was malfunctioning, or it was activated a different way. Malina inspected for the latter, and found she could remove the top of the board. Of course, underneath this was a numpad. _Secret codes and everything, I'm impressed. _The next best option was to find the stairs, and simply follow them until she found the place where the rest of them had gone. Passing through the boiler room, she found an elevated platform with a window, and looking down, could see the blonde with glasses sitting at what looked like a large computer.

_All anybody ever needs. _As Malina understood it, the wolf attacks must have happened so often that the kids had simply set up shop at an old factory to wait them out. _But wait- that can't be right. They had to formulate a plan to get the wolves off them. If it were a regular occurrence, it'd just be business as usual. _Suddenly, the idea of constant wolf attacks made everything make even less sense. She climbed down into the room, greeting a shocked Jeremy.

"Nice place. How'd you get everything set up here?"

"I- uh..." Malina heard a noise emanate from his headset. "Oh, right. Sorry. To your north."

"Maintenance?"

"You could say that." Jeremy listened to his headset again. "Yeah, I have company. The new girl from the cafeteria."

"Malina." The girl told him, suddenly realizing that she hadn't before.

"Right. Yumi, Aelita, Ulrich, make it quick. I think the wolves might be a bit too smart for our 'bait' to last too much longer."

"You're saying that like you all have control in the situation. What are you all DOING here?"

"I'll tell you later." Jeremy barked as he typed. Malina wandered over to see what he was doing. She could never quite understand software: she couldn't even tell someone how to 'inspect element,' let alone actually use the function. What she could figure out was that the screen had pictures of the kids from before, though something looked... different, about them. Below them, she only saw incomprehensible numbers.

"What can I do?" Malina asked the boy.

"Uh... I don't think we really need it at the moment, but thanks for the offer. I'm Jeremy, by the way."

"A pleasure." Jeremy smiled, but his face turned to worry as another noise came from his headset. On screen, Malina could see the brunet's image disappear, and heard a noise from a room downstairs. "Oh, no... Yumi, Ulrich's... out. You'll need to- William? Oh, no!"

"What? Who's William?" Jeremy ignored her.

"You two need to high-tail it to the tower. Don't let him get in the way of that!"

"Who's William? Maybe I can help." Malina reiterated.

"It's fine-"

"Doesn't sound it." Jeremy looked back and forth between her and the screen.

"Yumi, Aelita? Ready for some company?"

* * *

Malina stared down the pod as it opened. Every neural pathway in her brain was flooding with thoughts of caution and danger, and normally, she would have acted on those thoughts. She hated risks, never gambling with anything if there was another option. But if what Jeremy had told her was correct, she needed to suck it up and take a leap of faith. The brunette stepped into the pod, and turned towards the door as it closed behind her.

"When you're ready." Jeremy announced as he booted the scanner.

"Ready," Malina yelled from within the tube. As if on cue, the pod seemed to fill with an artificial gust of wind, and Malina crossed her arms in front of her chest out of reflex. Her eyes slammed shut, opening wide when she suddenly couldn't feel ground beneath her feet. She was glad she did, as it made the landing a lot easier. As she rolled backward to spread out the force of the impact, she noticed that her clothes were different from before.

While she had previously been clad with a hoodie, polo, leggings, and sneakers, her entire body save her head and fingers seemed to be covered in a woven bodysuit covered with armor plating, with breaks at the joints to let her move mostly freely. The color of the plates matched the icy landscape around her, serving as a sort of camouflage. If Jeremy was still correct, she would need it.

"Malina? How's everything on your end?"

"Fine." The girl responded. As she turned to take in the surroundings, she noticed a weight on her back, and removing it, found something that appeared to her like a bolt-action rifle. "You were right about me having a weapon."

"What kind of weapon is it? I can't tell from here. Your armor looks great, by the way."

"It's a rifle. Don't have any bullets on me that I'm aware of, though."

"Try firing it once, see what it shoots." Malina aimed at a glacier through the weapon's telescopic sight- 12x magnification, if she could adequately eyeball it- and fired, the projectile a bright red laser.

"Lasers. Doesn't look like it has a magazine, either. Like I can pull the bolt and fire again." Malina tested the theory, and a second laser struck the glacier. "Alright, so we got that squared away. Where do I go from here?"

"It looks like Yumi and Aelita are due north of your position. Given your armament, though, I'd look for some high ground where you can see them. Shoot down anything that looks hostile."

"Like that?" Malina asked, as a large crab-like creature emerged from behind the glacier she'd shot.

"Exactly! Aim for the top of its head." The girl took aim and fired- a direct hit. The creature exploded, leaving no trace of its existence as Malina pulled the bolt.

"Was that thing North of me?" Malina asked in an attempt to gather her bearings.

"Yup! Sorry, I'm used to giving directions to people who already know which way 'North' is."

"Understandable. I'll take higher ground, see what I can do." Malina started running towards a glacier, one beyond the one she'd been shooting at before, and started to climb. It was hard to get a grip on the ice, but eventually she reached the top, peering through her scope to find her sisters-in-arms. She spotted them, the ninja girl and the elf, due north as Jeremy had said, and with them, a knight in black with a large sword.

_No need for IFF when they dress up like that... _Malina joked as she took aim. Her finger rested on the trigger, ready to squeeze when she was confident in her shot.

Yumi timed her cartwheel to avoid William's slash, and used the opportunity to throw both of her fans at point-blank range. Malina blinked in confusion as the fans continued in the direction thrown, missing their target as he fell to the ground in a pile of smoke. He then reappeared in his original form, and struck at Yumi again, this time landing the attack and causing her body to explode into blue shards.

"Jeremy!"

"I know, Yumi got devirtualized! She's back at the factory now with Ulrich and I. It's up to you to protect Aelita, she's the only one that can stop X.A.N.A.!" The girl wasn't familiar with this 'X.A.N.A.,' but the question could wait. For now, she took aim once again. She squeezed the trigger, and the laser made contact with a very confused William, though not instantly taking him out like it had the krab.

The assailant turned into a cloud of smoke once again, and made a beeline for her location, moving far too quickly for her to aim a shot. Within seconds, he was upon her, and Malina rolled out of the way of his initial strike. Malina tried to fire at point-blank as the boy swung his weapon again, but missed as he stepped to the side. As the blade neared her, she closed her eyes in a panic, and opened them as she tumbled across the ground. Looking at where she had been before the impact, she could see blue shards, as William stood with a smug grin. Malina raised her weapon, only to find that it- like the rest of her body, apparently- was invisible. With a grunt, she went for the hipfire shot, and hit him square in the chest, causing him to vanish in a cloud of red shards and black smoke.

"Malina, something just happened on my screen, but I don't know what."

"What do you mean?"

"You took half the damage Yumi did from William's sword, and then some timer started below your picture. It started at one minute, and it's down to 50 seconds now."

"Not to mention the fact that I turned invisible?" Malina asked, looking down at herself once again only to find that she was now visible. "And now I'm not?"

"Well, I'll look into all of that later. Right now, you've got to keep an eye on Aelita!" Malina nodded, mostly to herself, and watched through her scope to find Aelita. She could see the girl, her pink wings carrying her to a tower. Before her were two krabs, both of which were quickly devirtualized with the combination of her rifle and Aelita's projectiles. The girl flew directly into the tower, and Malina looked around for more targets.

"Alright, we're going to initiate a return to the past. Whatever you do, don't panic and start asking questions once the light's gone."

"Being a little cryptic there..." Malina replied as white light filled her vision, replaced a moment later with the cafeteria. She looked around, and quickly realized that everything and everyone was where they had been before the wolves attacked. At a table near the window, she saw the other kids, who waved her over to their table.

"Hey, Malina." Jeremy greeted as she moved her tray and sat down beside Odd. "Sorry I couldn't call it to a vote, guys."

"Hey, no problem." The brunet assured him. "The girls were in trouble, you did what you had to."

"Though now we have to ask the important question." Yumi noted. "Can we trust her?"

"My father's a cop, out in the countryside before being transferred near here. There's a lot of stuff I know that I'm not allowed to tell. I'm not much of a talker anyway." Malina responded. Odd shrugged.

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright." Jeremy confirmed. "Meet me in my dorm after classes. Aelita should be able to find you and show you where I'm at. And remember: none of what I tell you in that room leaves it." Malina nodded.

"Can't wait."

* * *

As classes ended, Malina and her belongings were taken to her room. She hadn't brought much: not allowed to bring her gun, she'd packed little more than clothes and books. The room was already occupied, and Malina would be sharing it with another student. Before Malina could look around the room to figure out what type of girl she would be living with, Aelita entered through the door.

"Oh!" The pink-haired girl gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"Apparently, this is my new room. I take it you're my roommate?"

"That's right, though I never imagined them fitting a second bed in here." Aelita noted, looking at the one installed on the opposite side of the desk while she'd been in class. "Once you're all unpacked, I'll take you to Jeremy's room. We'll talk more about the factory there."

"Sounds good to me." Malina nodded as she put away some of her shirts. "Say, you don't mind if I listen to some music every now and again, do you?"

"Not at all. What kind of music?"

"A little bit of alternative, one song I listen to is singer-songwriter, and a little bit of orchestral."

"No pop?"

"Maybe a little bit, but not much. What about you?"

"I actually make some of my own music."

"Really? What genre?"

"Techno." Aelita noticed part of Malina's mouth contort into a frown. "You don't like techno?"

"Not really, no. Usually prefer something slower, with a Bass or acoustic guitar or something."

"Well, hopefully that won't be too much of a problem."

"Shouldn't be." Malina finished packing as she spoke. "So, where's Jeremy?"

"Follow me." Aelita left the room, and Malina left with her.

* * *

Jeremy's room was about the size of Aelita's, though with the addition of Malina's bed, the latter was now less roomy. The focal point of the room was the large computer, with the second point of interest being the boy working on it, who turned to face the two girls as they entered the room.

"Aelita, the door?" The blonde began. Once it was shut, he turned his focus to Malina. "Before I begin, I want to make you aware that I have the capability to remove everything you saw in the factory, and everything I tell you here, from your memory. Should you, for whatever reason, be unable to keep our secret, or simply unwilling to bear the knowledge of our secrets, I will promptly do so. Am I clear?"

"Not exactly, but continue." Jeremy paused a moment before speaking.

"Alright. I first explored that factory in October of 2004."

"You got all that set up in only two years?"

"I didn't. I found it in a similar state as you did, only deactivated. I activated the machinery and accessed the monitor, and that's when I met Aelita." Malina turned to the musician.

"So, she's from that other place?"

"Not exactly. Her father, Franz Hopper, originally built the supercomputer, and while running from some bad people, the two of them got trapped inside it by an AI called X.A.N.A."

"That's who Aelita was trying to stop earlier, right?" Jeremy smirked.

"Observant. Those towers on Lyoko are a sort of point of entry for X.A.N.A. to affect our world. He controlled those wolves earlier, made them attack the school."

"But why? What does it want from a bunch of kids?"

"Specifically, it's after all of us. Our little group is the only counter to X.A.N.A., and everyone else is blissfully ignorant. With us out of the way, X.A.N.A. would be unstoppable."

"So how does Aelita stop it?"

"Aelita's connected to Lyoko. Once again, her father made it, so Aelita can interact with the towers, stop what X.A.N.A.'s doing in our own world."

"So if the computer in the factory is connected to Lyoko, why can't you just shut it down to stop X.A.N.A. from attacking?"

"At every point since I first activated it, we've always hit a snag that's rendered us unable to. For the first year or so, Aelita was trapped in Lyoko, so shutting down the supercomputer would mean abandoning her."

"And once she wasn't?"

"Once she wasn't, X.A.N.A. managed to connect her life energy to the supercomputer. If we turned it off, we stopped Aelita's heart. Eventually, we fixed that problem too, but by the time we had, X.A.N.A. had managed to become independent of the Supercomputer, so turning it off would only eliminate our ability to deal with him."

"You said earlier that X.A.N.A. controlled the wolves. Is that all it does?"

"Believe me when I tell you that that's _nothing _compared to a lot of his other attacks."

"Such as?"

"Attempted nuclear sabotage threatening to render the entire city uninhabitable comes to mind, as does the use of music to induce cardiac arrest. One also can't forget his use of a military satellite's high-power laser weapon-"

"Okay, so there'll probably come soft rains if X.A.N.A. wins. And the five of you have fought off all of this yourselves?"

"A few times, six." Aelita corrected. Jeremy nodded solemnly.

"Who was the sixth?"

"William. You saw him on Lyoko, beat him in what I believe to be record time. He helped us out quite a bit before he was virtualized for the first time, but once he was..."

"He switched sides?"

"Not of his own volition." Jeremy noted. "X.A.N.A. used a monster called the Scyphozoa to turn William into his own personal weapon. I've been working on a way to bring him back, but progress has been slow. For the time being, the clone I made is doing an alright job remaining inconspicuous."

"A clone?"

"More a specter in his image. A hologram you can touch. Dumb as a rock, unfortunately, but passable."

"What's the Scyphozoa look like? I'd rather know what I'm supposed to shoot on sight."

"Like an oversized jellyfish, from what I've heard. It seems indestructible, though, so I would recommend running away over trying to fight it."

Malina went over the information in her head. "Is there anything else I should know going into all this?"

"One more thing. I studied your Lyoko avatar- the form you take on when you're virtualized- and it's quite fascinating."

"Go on?"

"Well, minor detail, the armor plates appear to be grey by default, but change color to loosely match the sector you're in. More importantly, I figured out that you accidentally activated your ability when you fought William."

"My ability?"

"Yup. Everyone has an ability on Lyoko: Ulrich has his speed, Yumi her telekinesis, Odd his shield. Aelita can use her ability to alter the landscape of Lyoko itself to make walls and bridges."

"So what does mine do, exactly?"

"Yours seems designed to allow you to feign your own devirtualization."

"'Devirtualization' being what happened to Yumi?"

"Right again. When you activated your ability, it made the next attack that hit you- William's sword- deal only half the damage it normally would have. Then, it turned you invisible while generating the visual effect of devirtualization. You clearly had him fooled, which is why you were able to shoot him again to defeat him."

"So, I can make them think they've won and then shoot them in the back?"

"Basically. I can see something like that coming in real handy on Lyoko."

"Is that everything I need to know?" Malina was still processing everything, but would much rather have all the information now.

"Just about. My point from before stands: if you have to or want to have your memories of all this erased, I will oblige. Being part of this fight means your life will be on the line almost every day, and keeping all of it absolutely secret."

"I understand." Jeremy smiles.

"Welcome aboard."

* * *

Malina and Aelita stepped out of Jeremy's room, the former bumping into the brown-haired boy from the group.

"Hey," the martial artist greeted as Aelita kept walking to her dorm. "I don't think we ever introduced ourselves."

"Malina." The new recruit held out her hand.

"Ulrich," the boy responded as he shook it. "Jeremy give you the rundown?"

"Yup. Still trying to process it all, but I've just about got the gist of it." Malina quieted her voice to a whisper. "Do you think X.A.N.A.'ll attack again today?"

"Today? I don't think so. It normally puts some time between its attacks, but not always. You learn to keep your guard up."

"Believe me, I got here with that mentality."

"Heh. Hey, I'll see you around." Ulrich entered Jeremy's room and shut the door, as Malina walked back to her own, where she once again met Aelita.

"So," the brunette started. "What is there to do around here? I brought a couple of books, but I'm curious."

"Well, there are dances every now and again. I play some of the tracks, though a lot of it's techno."

"Hard pass. If they're anything like dances I've been to, the music's always too loud, and slow dances are kinda lonely."

"What do you mean, 'lonely?' There's someone right there in your arms."

"In YOUR arms, and most people's. Never mine."

"Well, maybe it'll be different here?"

"I'll try _one. _Anything else?"

"All of the recreational facilities are open to the students, at least most of the time. Do you do any sports?"

"Aside from shooting and running? No."

"Shooting? Well, I guess that explains your weapon on Lyoko."

"How would the computer know that, though?"

"The scanner seems to read the subconscious of the people it virtualizes, and creates an avatar from that. How good a shot are you?"

"Farthest I've hit from is about a kilometer."

"Wow, that's impressive!"

Back in Jeremy's room, Ulrich had been speaking to the blonde.

"So, what do you think, Einstein? Can we trust her?"

"I haven't seen a reason why not."

"Well, next question, what does she bring to the table? Oughta be worth it, considering the last time we tried adding a sixth."

"Malina's nowhere near as reckless as William. I've already told her about the Scyphozoa, too."

"You still didn't answer my question."

"She's observant. Probably more perceptive than any of us, considering her dad's job is catching criminals and she spent her free time hunting. She tracked us down to the factory without even watching us after we entered the forest: that means that she found the manhole cover, figured out the path through the sewers to the factory, and found her way through the factory to the supercomputer without any past experience or help from us."

"And you don't think that's suspicious? A trick by X.A.N.A.? Let's not forget, this isn't the first time he's used a transfer student to meddle with us, and DEFINITELY not the first time he's used a scepter."

"A scepter with an avatar on Lyoko?"

"William, at the moment."

"Alright, I see your point. I have reason to believe she isn't: she referenced a Teasdale poem in a distinctly human way, but that might also be X.A.N.A. getting more clever. We'll keep a close eye on her, just to be sure. Was there something else?"

"No. Just wanted to make sure we weren't making a big mistake."

"Alright. She should be with Aelita right now, she _is _her roommate."

"You want me to check in?"

"No. If she can be trusted, you'd creep her out. I'll see if Yumi wants to hang out with them for some 'girl time.'"

"Okay. Let me know how that goes." Ulrich left the room, closing the door as Jeremy turned back to his computer. As he ran a test of a new program, he picked up his phone.

"Yumi?"

* * *

**Is it stereotypical OC-insert fanfic? Yes, yes it is. Is it the only thing I've gotten around to writing in a while despite the fact that I'm getting ready to go to college as a _film major_ to write screenplays for a living? Yes. Hope you enjoyed, and I'll try to get a few more chapters out as I go along with my life as it is now! See you then!**


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